Joe Hisashi – Top down in the winter that’s what winners do

December 22, 2010

Princess Mononoke >>>> Avatar. Spirited Away was amazing too. Miyazaki’s films have so much heart and imagination that it pains me to see people championing movies like Sherlock Holmes and Pirates of the Carribean, where they can get high off of plot twists and celebrity cameos.* I swear, everyone’s cultural palettes are so destroyed by the media that people have no desire to see what they inherently want, but some variation of the stupid Joseph Campbell archetype that they are taught to want. And I suppose that’s true for Miyazaki’s movies too to an extent, but at least the “bad” characters have understandable motivations and the story isn’t painted in black and white from the get-go. And there are talking wolves and giant babies.

ANYWAY, Joe Hisashi did the soundtrack to both films and supplies them with a score that is dreamy at some points and Hans-Zimmer esque in others. Wanted to put up something different today – enjoy! And check out Miyazaki if you haven’t yet.

* A few things. First, I do like Pixar movies but I feel like they’re only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creative and emotionally gripping children’s movies. I feel like sometiems people praise them as highly as they do because they feel like they’re obligated to rather than because they were really that affected by the movie. Second and unrelated, the PG-13 rating was the worst thing to ever happen to cinema. Almost every PG-13 movie ever made has been awful because it tries to pander to both kids and adults and completely loses any integrity in the process. These films are simply money machines for the studios because everyone in the family can see them and get something out of it. Lastly, there are some eccentricities in Miyazaki’s films that are a bit lost in translation, but these only make them more genuine and refreshing to me.